Darius Heard Period 2

Mrs. Ogo April 5, 2014

Harvest of Fear Essay

Would you be mad if you found out that there was a chemical in your food that you never knew about and the reason it was in there was because of the rapid demand of food by the growing population which is you? Is it a good thing or a bad thing, an un-humane and god-like thing to change or add something to an organisms biometric structure? Even if it is good for the organism to have the added gene to biometric structure to protect it from weather or pest problems, would it be right? The change of a plant or animal biometric structure to add or take a gene from is what you call genetically modifying (GM) the plant or animal. The use for GM plants and foods is to protect it and better it from environmental changes and predator attacks. GM foods are the food of the future which will help protect crops from pest destruction and certain animals from a decrease in population from predator attacks or non-growing seasons. Genetic modification of foods has been going on since the mid-late 1990s due to the rapid demand of food by the growing population. What foods are genetically modified? Mostly all types of foods you might find in the grocery store are genetically modified in some way. Either to have them grow bigger or faster or have them grow in the winter/non growing season so it can be in the stores quicker and in your hands faster. GM foods are mixed with non GM foods so you cant tell the difference but even if they didnt mix GM and non GM foods you still wouldnt be able to tell the difference. You would have to go to a scientist and have him take a sample of that food for you to find out if it is GM or not. Corn, one of Americas most profitable resources is GM as well. The reason for this is because of the caterpillar pest Heliothis zea or the corn earworm. This pest destroys a lot of the corn during its larvae stage so it can complete its transformation into an adult. Indefinitely scientist had to come up with something that would prevent caterpillars from eating the corn crops. The BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn was born, corn with an added pesticide that will prevent Heliothis zea from bowering into the corn crops. The only problem with this is that it made the corn slightly toxic and you would have to consider the corn has a factory producing toxin. There are still some small problems with genetically modifying foods but GM foods are the foods of the future. We need GM foods as a crop that has its own defense against pest, grows in non-growing season, animals that grow in non-growing season and grow five to twenty times large than average. The main reason why GM foods are successful is because of the rapid demand of food by the growing population which we have to provide with food. Never the less, how do you provide a growing population with food during non-growing season? GM crops are a type of food that doesnt have a non-growing season and has a defense against pest. This can provide the growing population with food during all-weather seasons. This is why we need GM foods and this is why I believe GM foods are the foods of the future.